New Fallout Trailer Reveals Everything You Need to Know About Walton Goggins
Ghouls just wanna have fun.
You may not know Walton Goggins, but you definitely know his face. The actor has appeared in everything from The Accountant to The Righteous Gemstones, but he’s best known for his roles in Westerns, whether they’re classic takes like The Hateful Eight or more modern approaches like Justified.
In Amazon Prime’s Fallout series, based on the hit video game franchise, Goggins plays the Ghoul, a mutant character with a mysterious past. Now, thanks to a new trailer that begins with an in-universe commercial for the fallout shelter technology that’s so pivotal to Fallout’s post-nuclear apocalypse setting, we’ve learned a bit about Goggins’ character: he’s none other than the charismatic face of the Vault-Tec company.
Goggins’ Ghoul seems to be the series’ version of the Vault-Tec Rep, the Fallout 4 character who appears in the game’s first stages to assist the player character moments before the bombs go off, forcing everyone into the vault and prompting a centuries-long time skip thanks to cryogenic technology. Later in the game, the Rep can be seen as a mutant Ghoul.
However, don’t expect this to mean the series will be a beat-for-beat Fallout 4 adaptation. Amazon’s show isn’t an adaptation of any particular Fallout game, but a separate story within the universe.
The Ghoul’s post-apocalyptic cowboy persona appears to be rooted in an old acting role.
This version of the Ghoul wasn’t just a salesman, but a spokesperson. In the trailer, we see him watching his old self dressed as a cowboy on TV, so it appears he was an actor who lent his image to the Vault-Tec corporation, only to be denied safety when the missiles began falling. It’s a poignant, ironic character detail that takes advantage of Goggins’ experience making westerns.
There’s also a split-second shot of Goggins rushing to help a girl in a moment that seems to echo the prologue of The Last of Us, so it’s clear the Ghoul’s past life will play a large part in the show. These new details make him an intriguing character to watch as we drift ever closer to entering Fallout’s wasteland.
